Clack

Taking Gay Marriage Ban to it's Logical Conclusion

FortBendNow

I am so thrilled that Proposition 2 passed and brings in to law a ban on gay marriage. I very much look forward to the other bans that will soon be added to our Texas Constitution.

Soon all extramarital affairs will be banned by our Constitution. After all, God made Adam and Eve to be married, and did not intend for spouses to have mistresses on the side. I am pretty sure this goes on, maybe even with some of our politicians. I wonder why they have never enacted a constitutional ban about this? And while we’re at it maybe we should use the Biblical form of punishment for those caught in adultery. Let’s just stone them all to death.

[...]

The Real Rhinestone Cowboys

from Mirror.co.uk (link from gay_blog)

COWBOY Chuck Browning is the epitome of all- American macho - a rugged rodeo star with a long history in ranching.

But a few days ago, watching Brokeback Mountain - a controversial Oscar-tipped film about a gay romance between a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy - he wept.

For Chuck went through the same struggle as the movie's characters when he realised it was the cowboys, not the cowgirls, he was attracted to.

[...]

Concerned Women for America urges Boycott of Mattel

Well, the Concerned Women for America has their panties in a twist over a questionaire on Mattel's website. The question was asking for the gender of the person answering the questionaire and there were three answers to select from, "male, female, and I don't know." from PlanetOut via Yahoo!

[...]

The Concerned Women for America, an activist U.S. group that says it "promotes biblical values," made the claims Dec. 30 after seeing a poll on the doll's Web site, which asked users whether they were "a boy," "a girl" or "I don't know."

The group says the toy's manufacturer, Mattel, has "overstepped a line," accusing it of joining forces with the "transgender movement."

However, the manufacturer said the reason for the neutral answer was more to do with human error than anything sinister.

Lauren Bruksch, a spokeswoman for Mattel, told ABC news that the inclusion was an oversight, since on all online polls the company tries to include a neutral answer for younger children.

[...]

Some interesting history on the CWA... SourceWatch

A new 'Twist' on gay radio

I heard about this on Q100 a couple of weeks ago, but I was in the shower and only caught bits and pieces of what they were talking about. Seems Atlanta's own Melissa Carter will be co-hosting a nationally syndicated gay and lesbian radio show!

from Southern Voice

"Twist," a new nationally syndicated, gay commercial radio show, is set for a Jan. 14 and 15 launch on seven radio stations around the country, including WWWQ, Q100 in Atlanta.

[...]

Gay hosts Dennis Hensley, Will Wikle and Atlanta’s own Melissa Carter will co-anchor the program’s music-and-talk format, which features songs, celebrity interviews, entertainment reports and advice from relationship and lifestyle experts.

Wilderness Media & Entertainment has not yet released the scheduled time slots for "Twist," but a spokesperson for the show anticipates a late-night run. Thomas Crone, music coordinator for Q-100, said Wednesday that "Twist" is tentatively scheduled to air beginning Jan. 15 at 10 p.m. on the Atlanta station, pending program availability.

Carter is a cast member on Q100’s popular morning drive-time program "The Bert Show." In 2002, Carter served as Grand Marshal in Atlanta’s Pride parade.

[...]

Let the games begin

Peggy, Ronna, Scott and myself saw Brokeback Mountain this afternoon. It's as true to the short story as they could get. It's powerful, moving, and touching. It deals with (in today's political climate) controversial subjects such as adultry, divorce, and being gay. The movie has garnered seven Golden Globe nominations, and stars Jake Gyllenhall and Heath Ledger being directed by Ang Lee.

Enter the christians.... and the supposed ex-gays....

"Don't be fooled by Brokeback Mountain's seven Golden Globe nominations. What a sad day in America when a movie that glorifies homosexuality, adultery, dangerous and deadly unprotected anal sex and deception is up for Best Picture of the Year. This anti-family movie sends a very harmful, insidious message to its viewers, cloaked in awards nominations," said Stephen Bennett, host of Straight Talk Radio.

[...]

"Brokeback Mountain's nomination for Best Picture of the Year depicts a tragic picture of the all time moral low our culture has sunk to. When a movie based on a short story, containing graphic, explicit, dangerous homosexual anal sex by two men is elevated to Best Picture of the Year, America better wake up. With HIV and AIDS on the rise, and homosexual men dropping dead because of this dangerous, potentially deadly behavior, you better believe, I'll be sounding the alarm on this movie. I've buried too many friends who died from AIDS to keep quiet on this one," said Bennett.

[...]

All you bible-thumping, holier-than-thou, crispy religious-types keep screaming. The more you scream, the more people know about and will see the movie. Come on! SCREAM LOUDER!

Brokeback Mountain

For those of you that are wanting to read Brokeback Mountain before you see the movie, here's the link to the story as it first appeared in The New Yorker.

Read it. It's a very powerful and moving story.

World AIDS Day

PlanetOut buys publisher of The Advocate, Out Magazine

I don't know whether to be happy or sad about this. Generally, the larger the conglomerate or corporation, the less said conglomerate or corporation is able to meet it's customers' needs.

PlanetOut buys publisher of Advocate, Out

[...]

The company purchased substantially all of the assets of LPI Media Inc., a privately held company which publishes The Advocate and Out, two of the largest circulation LGBT magazines in the United States, as well as HIVPlus and OutTraveler magazines, Advocate.com, Out.com and related e-commerce sites.

The $31.1 million purchase also gives PlanetOut the book publishing arm of LPI Media, Alyson Publications.

"This coming together is not just momentous for our companies, it is historic for the LGBT media industry," said Lowell Selvin, CEO of PlanetOut. "It shows that gay and lesbian media companies can grow to be 20-, 30-, 60-million-dollar companies serving millions."

[...]

George Takei Comes Out

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on the original "Star Trek" series has come out as a homosexual.

From Yahoo! news:

LOS ANGELES - George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.

[...]

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.

Takei, a Japanese-American who lived in a U.S. internment camp from age 4 to 8, said he grew up feeling ashamed of his ethnicity and sexuality. He likened prejudice against gays to racial segregation.

"It's against basic decency and what American values stand for," he said.

[...]

Mystery Woman

A few days ago, a mysterious sounding comment appeared on one of my photos on my gallery site. It went something like this:

From: Sally( Pride Committee Volunteer) (Tue Jul 12 01:39:48 2005)
BEST pics out there and I have seen lots!KUDOS! Need to ask you an important question. My addy is MizFoo2u@Aol.Com

"Important question"... hmmm, now I'm intriqued. So I wrote her back:

Thanks for the comment and compliment... you need to ask an important question?

Later that day, this reply comes back:

Hey Jeff,
Thank you for the speedy reply :-) I am trying to locate the girl on the RED Harley(with the white doo-rag). I know, you are probably saying stoopid lesbians and their drama, but I look at it as a romantic'quest.'
I rode with her Saturday after the Dyke March and we spent time in the park together. The plan was that I was going to ride with her in the parade Sunday so, we had time to gather more personal info after that.
Well, I live in Chattanooga but stay with friends here on weekends. The guy I was staying with got terribly sick early Sunday am, and me being a nurse, chose to stay and take care of him and I missed the parade AND the beautiful babe!
This is what I know~~~~~her name is Karen,she is 50/single/blonde/georgeous eyes/and works as a field technician for BellSouth. I have tried every way I know,including posting on Craig's list,trying to find her but so far to no avail! Any possibility you may know her or someone who might?? I would be eternally grateful for any help on this quest of mine. Ain't romance grand??? LOL
BTW...you need to be doing some professional photography, at the least for those Pride folks!!!!!
Thanks for hearing out this romantic femme and her plight!
Sally

With Sally's permission, I am posting this on both my blogs asking you, dear readers, if you can help her locate Karen, the lady on the Red Harley with the white doo-rag in the picture. If you know Karen or know how to reach her, you can leave a comment here, or email Sally directly at the email address she's given.

A special place in hell

There's a special place in hell for the Fred Phelps and his cult of hatemongers.....You see, the Westboro Baptist "Church" is thanking God for the bombing of London's subway.

godhatesfags.com

Welcome aboard Air Head Airlines

It's been a long time since I linked over to my blog buddies Bill and Kent, so here goes....

Bill found an article on the Washington Blade website by Michael Alvear proposing what an airline by and for gays might be like.

[...]

• SECURITY GUARDS WOULD be renamed “social security guards” to reflect the gregarious nature of the airline’s passengers. They’d frisk us, then put their hands against the wall and say, “Your turn.” No reason to ask if there’s a pistol in their pocket or if they’re just happy to see you. The answer is yes.
• WE’D ALSO UPDATE the emergency exit instructions. Superbly choreographed evacuation strategies will make you hope for a mid-flight engine failure to try out the moves.
• Given the amount of time gay men would spend looking at themselves in the mirror, the signs on the lavatories wouldn’t say “Occupied.” They’d say “Preoccupied.”
• We could have a “hot or not” button beside each profile and vote the losers off the plane, to be replaced with cuter stewards at the next stop.

[...]

But, perhaps the funniest thing of all is Bill's snarky comment at the end of his post:

Well, you get the idea. I can just imagine Shirley Phelps, daughter of Fred Phelps (from the godhatesfags.com group that’s always demonstrating outside the funerals of gay men...) taking a flight on the airline and proclaiming, “You are abominations!” Only to be scolded by the flight attendant, “Oh pullllease honey!! You are calling us abominations with THAT hair!! I don’t think so!!!”

Thanks Bill and Kent for the laugh!

Atlanta Pride 2005 Update

I sent out a couple of thank you emails after pride to Derek and Romaine and to Doria Biddle thanking them for taking the time to talk to Scott and myself, and thanking Doria for the T-shirts.

The email I sent to Derek and Romaine said:

Hey Bitches!

I just wanted to say it was great meeting you guys at Atlanta Pride this weekend! Romaine, I was the one that told you the story about Doria Biddle signing my copy of On Our Backs "Doria Biddle, (NOT Romaine!)" and getting you and Derek to sign a picture of yourself for my friend Sherri that couldn't be there because she was having to work.

Glad you guys had a good time this weekend, and I hope you'll be able to come back next year!

Thanks again!
Jeff

and Derek read the email on the air! He even commented that if "Sherri couldn't be there next year, then they just wouldn't come back for pride."

The first email I sent Doria Biddle said:

Hey Doria,

I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to talk to me and my partner Scott on Saturday at the Sirius booth and for giving us both Sirius T-shirts (I wore mine to work today).

To jog your memory as to who I am, you signed my copy of On Our Backs magazine with Romaine on the cover "Doria Biddle (NOT Romaine!)" :-)

Thanks again!

Jeff

and was listening to The Frank DeCaro Show with Doria Biddle when Doria was talking about her getting to ride on the back of a motorcycle in the Pride Parade. I went back and checked my pictures that I took, and there she was. I sent another email to her:

hey Doria, listening to you talk about the pictures of ATL pride that people have sent you, reminded me to send you the one that I caught of you and Cheryl on the motorcycles!

You can see the picture at http://gallery.jeffreed.net/Atlanta2005/PICT0026

It was taken on 10th street, right in front of the firestation, close to the end of the parade route. My partner has a condo that overlooks 10th... we were the ones standing on the balcony with two Pride flags and the ENDA banner.

I have the larger, full-sized version (and it's a BIG file) if you would like me to send it to you.

I also heard you last night when you called into the D&R show talking about signing the copy of On Our Backs magazine. :-)

Jeff

Doria writes back:

Jeff,

Thanks so much for the picture. I'm putting it on the site as well. I'm the envy of all my friends and family now that I'm a genuine Dyke on a Bike. I'm going to have to get my motorcycle license so I can ride everywhere!

Thanks for snapping and for listening!

xo,

Doria

So, I went to her site to see if it was up yet. No, not yet, but this one is! So, I wrote her back:

well, tell you what... I'll trade you :-)

The picture on your site called Doria_Selling_Radios.JPG (with the caption of "Two listeners discover that, without Frank around to interrupt me, I tend to drone on and on and on..." is me and my partner Scott talking to you! I'm the shorter one with the sunglasses in my hands.

My partner and I both ride motorcycles. We both have Yamaha V-Stars and LOVE them.

I run a couple of blogs on the "internets" and sometimes write about the rides that Scott and I take... keep in touch!

http://clack.jethrotech.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/atlgaygeek/

Love the show!

Jeff and Scott

Now, how cool is THAT?

Canada Commons Passes Gay Marriage Bill

from 365gay.com

(Ottawa) Canada's lower house Tuesday night passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry in those regions of the country where courts have not already ruled it legal.

The measure passed 158 to 133. Gays and lesbians who packed the gallery for the vote applauded and cheered when the vote result was announced.

[...]

Although the legislation is expected to pass the Senate comfortably it could face a lengthy debate.

Same-sex marriage already is legal in 8 of Canada's 10 provinces and one of the three territories.

[...]

OK, who's with me in moving to Canada?

Atlanta Pride 2005

Well, Atlanta Pride 2005, "Unite and Act" has come to a close. Scott and I went to the Park on Saturday to see, buy, and donate. We donated to the Human Rights Campaign and to Georgia Equality. We bought food (on a stick, of course), lemonade, and a T-shirt.

We were walking by the PALS Atlanta booth and noticed a sign that said, to the effect, Meet Leslie Jordan here at 3pm on Saturday. Scott and I both looked at our watches and went... "He's here NOW! And there he is!" We stood in line for about 5 minutes, and for a $10 donation to PALS Atlanta, he signed a poster for me and shook our hands. He's a really nice guy, and 100% showman. When he "turned it on" for the people, his face lit up and he genuinely looked like he was having a great time.

Now, I've known for months that Derek and Romaine from the Derek and Romaine show on Sirius OutQ were coming to Atlanta for Pride Weekend. Several months ago, Romaine appeared in a spread in On Our Backs magazine. Little ole' queer me goes bee-bopping into OutWrite and buys a copy of the Lesbian Smut. (Just for the record, yes, I looked at it, and NO, I don't understand it) for the sole purpose of getting Romaine to sign it when she's here.

After a couple of trips by the Sirius booth looking for Romaine, I found Doria Biddle from the Frank DeCaro Show. Since I couldn't find Romaine, I pulled the magazine out, and asked Doria to sign it... she did, and she signed it "Doria Biddle (not Romaine) :-)" Doria's very personable, outgoing, and nice. She even gave Scott and myself special OutQ t-shirts! (THANKS DORIA!)

Meeting and talking to Doria was fun, but I'd been carrying that Lesbo Smut magazine all day just to get Romaine to sign it. So, feeling a little dejected, and vowing to come back on Sunday to see if we could catch up with Romaine, Scott and I headed back toward the house for a break (and some more food), but we stopped at OutWrite on the way back to his condo for some iced coffee (damn it was hot yesterday). Sitting on the magazine racks was one last, lonely copy of On Our Backs with Romaine on the cover... It was a SIGN! I bought it and we went back to the park and the Sirius booth. Low and behold, there stood Derek and Romaine.

After some chit chat ("Hey Bitches!"), Romaine signed my copy of the magazine, and Derek signed one of the placards with their picture on it. Thanks Derek and Romaine! My bestest lesbian friend from Huntsville couldn't make it to Atlanta this year because she had to work.... but, I got both Derek and Romaine to sign a picture of themselves for Sherri! (I love you and miss you, babe!)

Not long ago, I decided I wanted a new Digital SLR camera, and having an investment in Minolta equipment already, I decided to buy the Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D. Today's pride parade was the first real test of the camera for me, and you can see the results on my other site.

Should gays be required to have warning labels?

from 365gay.com

The leader of a conservative Christian lobby group appears to suggest that gays should be required to wear warning labels, although he denies that was his intention.

"We put warning labels on cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one to two years off the average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we know spreads every kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20 years off the average life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered scientific journal Psychological Reports," Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive director of the New York Christian Coalition told the Mid Hudson News.

[..]

Europride 2005

toxic.no

Kinda slow to load, so be patient

Texas governor suggest gay veterans leave Texas

from PlanetOut via Yahoo!

LGBT groups are demanding an apology from Texas Gov. Rick Perry after he suggested that gay veterans returning from Iraq should leave Texas.

During a controversial bill-signing ceremony at a Fort Worth church on Sunday, Perry signed a proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage.

When asked by the Fort Worth Star Telegram how he would tell gay and lesbian veterans of combat in Iraq that they cannot come home and get married, he replied, "Texans made a decision about marriage, and if there's a state that has more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's a better place for them to live."

Randall Ellis, the executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby demanded an apology. "When injured soldiers are coming home every day from Iraq, we should honor everyone's service to our state and country, not judge them and tell them to get out."
[...]

"Their service has defended the freedom of every Texan, including Governor Perry. The Governor's remarks dishonor their service and he should immediately apologize. We should be thanking these brave men and women, not asking them to leave, " [Sharra E. ] Greer[, director of law and policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN)] said.

[...]

"It's sad that the governor thinks that soldiers who risk their lives in combat deserve to be treated like second-class citizens," added Aaron Belkin, the director for the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, in a conversation with the PlanetOut Network. "These are sad remarks that seem inconsistent with the 79 percent of the public that says gays should serve openly and be treated as first-class citizens."

Bill gets fired up!

Bill, over at BillandKent.com ripped into a bunch of homophobes at his gym, and said to them what a lot of us would like to say.... good for you, Bill!

[...]

Then the guy said, “Well, they are everywhere these days ya know. Hell they can even get married now in Connecticut.” (much “good ole boy” laughter).

I got up and walked over to the guy and got up in his face, and said, “I am THEY. I am one of THOSE. And for the record, THEY will not be able to get married in Connecticut. THEY will only be able to get a civil union. And some of THEY, such as myself, has been with someone for 30 years, so THEY feel that just maybe THEY have paid their dues by having to put up with stupid remarks from PEOPLE LIKE YOU! I am the face of THEY.”

[...]

U.S. judge rejects Neb. gay marriage ban

from Yahoo!/PlanetOut News

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A federal judge Thursday struck down Nebraska's ban on gay marriage, saying the measure interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements.

The constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2000.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said the ban "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of gays "and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs' right to petition or to participate in the political process."

Bataillon said the ban "goes far beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman."

The judge said the "broad proscriptions could also interfere with or prevent arrangements between potential adoptive or foster parents and children, related persons living together, and people sharing custody of children as well as gay individuals."

[...]

Give gays their rights, or let them keep their taxes

from York Daily Record:

[...]

Here’s my suggestion: Let’s add an amendment that makes it illegal to accept taxes from gays and lesbians and ignore them in earnest on all of their issues thereafter.

This biggest argument against gay marriage typically comes from conservative Christians who say this is a Christian country founded on Christian principals.

Using this reasoning, they say they should be able to glue a copy of the Ten Commandments anywhere they want. They say they should be able to mandate prayer anywhere they want.

They want to mandate that God remain in the Pledge of Allegiance, even though the writer of the pledge never intended it to be there in the first place. They want everyone forced to say the pledge despite any objections, including those that might come from other Christians.

And then, of course, there is the fight to ban gay marriage. If you want to change the Constitution to accomplish this, go ahead. But as you’re writing, make sure you also add:

“. . . and because the opinions, needs and rights of gays and lesbians do not matter in America; and because this is a Christian country founded on Christian principles; and as long as we’re at it, anyone, including but not limited to atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and unsaved Jews also disagreeing with this assessment, may either leave America at government expense or stay and be exempt from paying the taxes that would have mandated their legitimate expectation to equal rights and representation in all levels of government.”

[...]

Posted by Clack at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

Gerald Allen introduces another bill in Alabama

You might remember me talking about Gerald Allen in previous posts... Seems he couldn't get his original bill that would ban all gay themed books and books with gay characters from all libraries in the state through the Alabama legislature. So, rather than give up, he's introduced a bill that would only ban them from schools. *sigh*

CBS News

[...]

Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.

"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."

Books by any gay author would have to go: Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" has lesbian characters.

Allen originally wanted to ban even some Shakespeare. After criticism, he narrowed his bill to exempt the classics, although he still can't define what a classic is. Also exempted now Alabama's public and college libraries.

[...]

Alabama moves toward denying gays and lesbians the right to marry

OK, I'll admit it, this is old news. But, I'm trying to catch up after a long hiatus from Clack, so bear with me for a little while

from The Sand Mountain Reporter

The Alabama Senate gave final passage Thursday to a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It now goes to Secretary of State Nancy Worley in preparation of being placed on the June Primary ballot in 2006.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove. It passed the Senate without a dissenting vote. It calls for a statewide referendum allowing the people to vote on whether Alabama should write a ban on same-sex marriage into the state’s 104-year-old Constitution.
[...]

[Sen. Mitchem] said polls show that more than 80 percent of Alabamians support such a ban and believe that marriage should be allowed only between a man and a woman.

[...]

Happy Anniversary

Happy 2nd Anniversary Sirius OutQ!

God has a vagina for every homosexual (?)

Last month, the self-described "confrontation evangelist" Jed Smock continued for the fourth day, his brand of bring religion to the masses. Smock, a traveling evangelist had been preaching to students on the University of Arizona campus.

Arizona Daily Wildcat

[...]

What began as a religious debate and question of free speech quickly turned into an afternoon entertainment session, attracting a crowd of about 150 people.

Some of Smock's comments included "a masturbator today is a homosexual tomorrow" and "God has a vagina for every homosexual." Smock also said the only thing Mexicans contribute to society is burritos, and Jewish people are only good at making bagels and running banks.

Smock advised students against "fornicating outside of marriage," drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana or doing drugs, although Smock said he found God while doing LSD in college.

[...]

I'm sure my lesbian friends will be excited to know that God has a vagina especially for them! But, I'm not too sure my Latino or Jewish friends are going to be too happy with his comments.

CA Court Rules Against California Ban on Gay Marriage

from Yahoo! News

A California Superior Court judge ruled on Monday that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.

The ruling stemmed from litigation over San Francisco's decision last year to allow gay marriage. Those weddings were ruled invalid by the California Supreme Court, but the top court asked a lower court to consider the broader issue.

"We're gratified by today's ruling," said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. He added it was an important step toward establishing equal rights for gays in California.

[...]

Phelps' granddaughter loses bid for Topeka council

from 365gay.com:

The virulent anti-gay Fred Phelps clan was dealt a double blow in the group's hometown Tuesday. Topeka voters rejected a bid to repeal the city's gay rights ordinances and turned down an attempt by one of the clan leaders to gain a seat on city council currently held by a lesbian.

[...]

A granddaughter of Phelps, Jael Phelps, was among three candidates who challenged the lesbian councilwoman, Tiffany Muller, in the nonpartisan primary Tuesday.

Muller, 26, had been appointed last year to fill a vacancy on the council. With her second-place finish on Tuesday night, getting 1,329 votes, Muller assured herself a spot on the April general election ballot. Richard Harmon, a lawyer, finished first, with 1,935 votes. Phelps, a 20-year-old nursing student, received just 202 votes.

"Today, the people of Topeka not only rejected discrimination, they chose decency over immorality, truth over despicable lies, and they repudiated the hate-filled beliefs and practices of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka," said Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

[...]

Gov. Romney attacks gay families

from GayNZ.com:

[...]

Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney, rumoured to be gunning for a Republican Party presidential nomination in 2008, told a crowd in South Carolina that a historic court ruling legalising gay marriage in his state was "a blow against the family"

"Today, same-sex couples are marrying under the law in Massachusetts,'' he said. "Some are actually having children born to them. It's not right on paper. It's not right in fact. Every child has the right to have a mother and a father.''

Romney then headed to Utah, telling a GOP gathering that America's prestige around the world is suffering because of the legalisation of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts.

[...]

College students protest gay book ban

The Heights:

Last week, theater students at Wellesley College gathered to protest a bill that was recently introduced in the Alabama legislature that would ban books that include gay characters and lifestyles. The students spent 24 hours reading plays that would, should the bill pass, be banned, such as Tea and Sympathy by Robert Woodruff Anderson.

[...]

Gannongate continues to unravel

AmericaBlog (damn, these folks are awesome) has the continuing story

There's also some fairly revealing pictures (NSFW) on the "Wayback machine"

Author sends book and shovel to Alabama lawmaker

Back in November, I wrote about Alabama Representative Gerald Allen wanting to ban using public funds to support or buy any books that had any gay themed information or characters and even went so far as to suggest that the books should be buried.

Rep. Allen has restarted his push by proposing a state law to ban not just books, but that also ban plays, and films at public institutions, including libraries and college campuses that contain gay characters or gay themes

In response, gay novelist Micahel Holloway Perronne, shipped a copy of his novel, A Time Before Me, along with a miniature shovel to Rep. Allen.

Perronne said in regards to shipping his novel to Allen, “If Mr. Allen is determined to bury such great works as The Color Purple, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Brideshead Revisited, then I would be honored to have my own work buried with such classics. Mr. Allen can use the shovel I sent him to start digging his hole.”

(pressbox.co.uk)

Alabama Senator pushes for gay marriage ban

Once again, I bring my home state (and home county, Marshall, and even home elected official) into Clack....it's also interesting to me, and this seems to be the norm rather than the exception, that everybody puts passing constitutional amendments that foster hate, discrimination, and injustice BEFORE more important things like budgets, caring for the homeless, and making sure the children can get a decent education. Talk about misdirected priorities!

A proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage, sponsored by Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Albertville, has been the first order of business in the Alabama Legislature.

Mitchem’s bill was approved Wednesday by a House committee despite passionate pleas from representatives of gay rights groups, who said it would encourage discrimination and hate toward homosexuals.

Mitchem said the ban is overwhelmingly supported, but the main issue is when the amendment will go before voters. The House Constitution and Election Committee voted 8-6 along party lines in favor of holding the referendum with the June 2006 primaries, as Democrats prefer. The final committee vote was 12-2.

Mitchem said he expects Republicans to push for a changed date when the bill reaches the House floor. They favor a vote during the November 2006 General Election, when they will be up against the Democratic nominees for legislative seats.

[...]

The second-largest priority for the Legislature is filling a $300 million hole in the General Fund.

from The Sand Mountain Reporter (or, as the local joke goes, The Sand Mountain Repeater)

"Desperate Housewife" gay?

Rumor has it that Marcia Cross, who plays Bree Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives will appear on an upcoming cover of The Advocate, revealing herself as a lesbian and also outing her partner at the same time.

Dolly Parton, others compile CD benefiting homosexual group

from Baptist Press News

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Taking sides in a cultural battle, some of the nation's top artists -- including Mandy Moore, the Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton -- have contributed to a CD that benefits the nation's largest homosexual activist organization.

All of the proceeds from the CD, "Love Rocks," will go to the Human Rights Campaign -- a homosexual activist organization that has figured prominently in the push to legalize same-sex "marriage" nationwide and works to promote "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights."

The two-disk CD set -- which is being released just in time for Valentine's Day -- features some 30 artists, including Yoko Ono, who sings "Every Man Has a Man." Other top artists are Christina Aguilera, Emmylou Harris, Pink and Carole King.

An HRC press release called the CD "groundbreaking." It was produced in a partnership between HRC and Centaur Entertainment.

[...]

The Two Faces of President Bush

The following are excerpts from an email from the Human Rights Campaign I recieved today. Please, watch the commercial.

On October 29, 2004, President Bush said: "I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union ... if that's what a state chooses to do."

On January 16, 2005, President Bush said:
"... [I] will not press senators to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage." This same day, Counselor to the President, Dan Bartlett, said that Bush "will spend political capital" to push for the constitutional amendment.

On January 20, 2005, President Bush will say:
"I do solemnly swear ... to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

HRC Asks: Which of the two faces of President Bush will be taking office on Thursday?

Watch HRC's ad

We're the cause of the tsunami! (?)

Most who know me know that I'm a left-leaning liberal. Not F-A-R left, mind you, but definately left of center. Over the past few days, I've heard some pretty ridiculous conspiracy theories about the earthquake and resulting tsunami that occurred at the end of last month. Some of them include aliens and other include super secret weapons testing by the US. But, when a Saudi professor blames it on "sinful acts" caused the disaster, I have to draw the line. I mean, I've felt the Earth move before, but I'm pretty sure that was a localized event that didn't generate a 9.0 magnitude earthquke.

from WorldNetDaily.com

A Muslim Saudi professor says the earthquake and tsunami in south Asia were punishment from Allah for homosexuality and fornication committed by residents and visitors of affected countries at Christmastime.

[...]

"We know that at these resorts, which unfortunately exist in Islamic and other countries in south Asia, and especially at Christmas, fornication and sexual perversion of all kinds are rampant," he said. "The fact that it happened at this particular time is a sign from Allah. It happened at Christmas, when fornicators and corrupt people from all over the world come to commit fornication and sexual perversion. That's when this tragedy took place, striking them all and destroyed everything. It turned the land into wasteland, where only the cries of the ravens are heard. I say this is a great sign and punishment on which Muslims should reflect."

[..]

"All that's left for us to do is to ask for forgiveness We must atone for our sins and for the acts of the stupid people among us and improve our condition. We must fight fornication, homosexuality, usury, fight the corruption on the face of the earth, and the disregard of the lives of protected people."

You can view the translated television interview on Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project's website.

Virginia back in the news

If you've been a (relatively) long-term reader of Clack, you might remember the following articles I posted last year:
Virginia takes away gay partner rights
Virginia is for Haters (.org)
Virginia passes anti-gay marriage law

Well, apparently, taking away marriage rights and passing laws to prohibit same-sex marriage isn't enough. Now, the lawmakers in Virginia will consider amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

But, what's really interesting about the article on 365gay.com is the mention that

[...] the legislature will also look at a measure that would put the marriage issue on license plates. The bill calls for traditional marriage to be displayed on car licenses. If passed the plates would have interlocking gold wedding bands superimposed over a red heart over the legend "Traditional Marriage."

Westboro Baptist Press Release

Raw Print has a copy of the press release Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS issued regarding the Tsunami and "2,000 dead Swedes!!!" Apparently, according to them, the Tsunami was G-d's wrath on the Swedes for recognizing that homosexuals exist and have the same rights as all other people.

From the press release, it sounds like Phelps and Clan are just jealous that gay men and women (as a generalization) have more disposable income than they do and no kids to take care of. Maybe, if they would take their heads out of their asses and get an education, they too, could have disposable income.

...

How many tsunami-dead Swedes are fags & dykes? [V]acationing on their fat[,] expendable incomes without kids to bother with and spend money on.

...

And, to think, the Christian Funda Mentalists are running ruining this country!

New Birth Church plans anti-gay march in Atlanta

from 365gay.com:

The nation's only national black LGBT civil rights group is condemning plans by a black minister to lead an anti-gay march this weekend in Atlanta.

The National Black Justice Coalition issued a statement today against the pastor the New Birth Church -- the Reverend Eddie Long -- to hold the march on Saturday.

The march is being planned to oppose the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

New Birth is one of the biggest black churches in America.

The march is scheduled to start at the King Center in Atlanta at 9:45 a-m and travel to Turner Field.

"To march from the King Center against the rights of gays is a slap in the face to the legacy of Dr. King," said NBJC Board president Keith Boykin.

Boykin also noted that one of King's closest advisers, Bayard Rustin, was an openly gay man.

"Dr. King said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," added Boykin, "but Bishop Long seems to think that injustice against gays and lesbians is perfectly fine."

Coretta Scott King, Julian Bond, John Lewis and many other civil rights veterans have spoken out in favor of marriage equality.

[...]

California group seeks gay marriage amendment

I'm very fortunate in all aspects of my life. I have great friends, I have a wonderful partner (3 1/2 years and counting), I have a great job (although it causes me many days of strife and grief occasionally), work with a lot of wonderful people, I have a place to live, a car to drive, and food to eat. In short, I don't want for anything.

My employer explicitly forbids discrimination of any kind in the workplace, including discrimination based on sexual orientation, so I'm free to be exactly who I am at the office. I've carried my partner to company functions on more than one occasion. I've introduced him to Executive Vice Presidents as my partner and will continue to do so.

There are several things that I wish for, but I couldn't possibly wish for a more understanding and supportive manager at work. My manager resides in California and works out of the Pasadena office. While it's never been an issue, and never came up in conversation, the opportunity presented itself at the beginning of 2004 for me to expressly tell him that I'm gay. I won't go into the details of how, when, and why that opportunity presented itself, for it is not related to this story. Let's just say that I came out to my manager.

After Georgians overwhelmingly voted to amend the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage and civil unions, my manager and I had long talks many days about discrimination, religious manipulation of the general populace, and the ignorance of the population in general. My manager presents an interesting viewpoint on these issues as he was not born in the United States.

One of the things that he told me was "You should move to California. We'd never pass some stupid discriminatory amendment like Georgia did." And, if I'm to be honest, I've considered making a move. But, the following article shows that evangelical, discriminatory, supposed Christians live everywhere, including California. I hope my manager is correct. I hope the people of California don't vote to include discrimination in their constitution. I hope they never even have the chance. I do feel the need to point out, though, that marriage between two people of the same sex is already illegal in California, made so by Proposition 22 in March 2000. Prop 22 passed with over 61% of the vote.

from 365gay.com

A conservative Christian group involved in a lawsuit over same-sex marriage announced Monday it will have legislation introduced in the California Assembly that would amend the state constitution to ban gay unions.

The Traditional Values Coalition said that it has two bills prepared. One to be introduced in the Senate and another in the Assembly that will codify into the Constitution language from Proposition 22, which was approved by voters in March 2000 with over 61% of the vote.

"The momentum to preserve traditional marriage has spread like wild fire across the country," the Rev. Louis Sheldon, Chairman and Founder of Traditional Values Coalition, said in a statement.

"We intend to add California to those 11 other states that passed marriage amendments on November 2nd preserving marriage for one man and one woman. That is why Traditional Values Coalition will engage in the fight for marriage in California by introducing a state constitutional amendment."

The announcement came as Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) announced a new attempt at passing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. (story)

The "Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act" would amend a section of California's family code that defines marriage as "a personal relationship arising out of a civil contract between a man and woman" to read "between two persons."

[...]

Gay Marriage Amendments Take Effect

The voter-approved Arkansas constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman goes into effect on Thursday.

Opponents claim the law will harm the rights of both heterosexual and homosexual couples, but the measure's lead supporter, Jerry Cox, said the law simply firms up existing law that bans gay marriage.

[...]

(TheHomeTownChannel.com)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A state constitutional ban on gay marriage took effect on Thursday as the Oregon Supreme Court awaited final briefs from lawyers to determine whether nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples are valid.

[...]

(OregonLive.com)

Pat Robertson speaks out

Most of the people who read Clack regularly, can already guess my opinions of Pat Robertson. On November 30's 700 Club broadcast, during the news report segment, Robertson had this to say:

Before we get into the legalities of this whole thing [same-sex marriage] and what the [U.S.] Supreme Court did, I'd like to show you what Jesus said. I think his word, in my opinion, the final word on it. In Matthew, he [Jesus] said this ..."'Haven't you read,' he [Jesus] replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'"-- I want to emphasize that male and female. And he [Jesus] says, "'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' [Matthew 19:1-5, New International Version]."

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is the basis of marriage. It is male-female, not male and male, not female and female. It is male and female. There is no way that two women can reproduce. There's no way that two men can reproduce. The whole concept of marriage is to bring forth a godly seed, to bring forth children who will grow up to serve the Lord.

That's what marriage is about and it is about nothing else. It has nothing to do with these hedonists, self-absorbed hedonists, if you will, that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America. They don't need marriage because marriage was the protection of men and women, male and female, for the bringing forth of children. That's what it's about, nothing else, bottom line. And if America goes the other way we will be flying directly in the face of the clear word of the Bible.

[...]

ROBERTSON: I can't see this current [U.S. Supreme] court, who's already ruled that homosexuality is a constitutionally protected right -- which is just absurd -- but they ruled that, 5 to 4. How will they rule otherwise in relation to marriage?

Robertson quotes from Media Matters For America

CBS and NBC refuse to air liberal church ad

CNN Money reports that

CBS has refused to run an ad by a liberal church promoting the acceptance of people regardless of sexual orientation because the network believes the ad is advocacy advertising.

The church also says the ad was banned on NBC.

The 30-second spot, run by the United Church of Christ, features two muscle-bound bouncers standing outside a church, selecting people who could attend service and those who could not. Among those kept out are two males who appear to be a couple. Written text then appears saying, in part, "Jesus didn't turn people away, neither do we."

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples...and the fact that the executive branch has recently proposed a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast," the church quoted CBS as saying.

[...]

The commercial can be viewed at www.stillspeaking.com.

The church says the ad has been accepted on a number of other networks, including ABC Family, BET Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, TBS and TNT.

Aren't we Alabamians A Proud Lot?

Continuing my embarrassment from the other day, Alabama continues it's 15 minutes in the spotlight.

The Tuscaloosa News reports that Alabama Attorney General Troy King is trying to shut down the state's newest electronic gambling hall in White Hall.

[...]

While King personally opposes gambling and says it "creates more social ills than can be cured by the revenue it generates," he said he couldn't go as far as some gambling opponents wanted - banning electronic bingo games from the state.

"I cannot conclude, as some have, that just because the game is being played on video consoles, it is not 'bingo,'" King said.

The Republican attorney general said the newly opened gambling business in White Hall, 20 miles west of Montgomery, is operating under a flawed constitutional amendment. He plans to ask a judge to invalidate the constitutional amendment and then pursue a court order to halt operations.

[...]

The White Hall center operates under two constitutional amendments. One, approved by voters statewide in 2000, permitted bingo in Lowndes County, and another amendment, approved only in Lowndes County in 2002, expanded what could be offered. The second amendment should have been voted on statewide because it drew one negative vote in the Legislature, and any constitutional amendment that gets any negative votes in the Legislature must be voted on statewide rather than in a single county, King said.

The electronic games at White Hall now are not permitted under the original 2000 constitutional amendment, and "that is the fatal flaw," King said.

[...]

The Christian Coalition, which made some of the complaints that prompted the attorney general's review of gambling halls, was pleased with the outcome.

"The attorney general's actions today are a good first step in setting boundaries and definitions that will hopefully disrupt the efforts of trial lawyers representing the gambling industry who often succeed in the courtroom by relying on vague definitions," state President John Giles said.

The Birmingham News (minimal registration required) reports that Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, wants to ban novels with gay characters from public libraries, including university libraries.

[...] would prohibit the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." Allen said he filed the bill to protect children from the "homosexual agenda."

"Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every angle," Allen said in a press conference Tuesday.

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

[...]

Allen said no state funds should be used to pay for materials that foster homosexuality. He said that would include nonfiction books that suggest homosexuality is acceptable and fiction novels with gay characters. While that would ban books like "Heather has Two Mommies," it could also include classic and popular novels with gay characters such as "The Color Purple," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Brideshead Revisted."

The bill also would ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama. Allen said that meant books with heterosexual couples committing those acts likely would be banned, too.

His bill also would prohibit a teacher from handing out materials or bringing in a classroom speaker who suggested homosexuality was OK, he said.

[...]

Another article on this same subject appears today in The Crimson White, the University of Alabama campus' newspaper.

[...]

The ban "would be removing a good portion of the classics of Western civilizations, " said Mark Potok, director of the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which monitors hate group activity. "So I think it's a jackass proposal, to put it plainly."

Potok said conceivably the Bible and even works that are critical of homosexuality could be prohibited under the bill's guidelines.

"Hemingway wasn't a friend to gays," he said. "But there were gay characters in his works."

[...]

Bryan Fair, a UA law professor, said the bill runs contrary to the freedom of speech guaranteed to Americans - including homosexuals - by the First Amendment.

[...]

If the bill were to become law, "it would go to court," Fair said. "And Alabamians would spend another million dollars fighting a losing case.

"But we do that often," Fair said, referencing cases such as former Chief Justice Roy Moore's efforts to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the State Judicial Building's rotunda, which eventually cost Moore his job. "We apparently have a lot of money to waste."

Fair said the U.S. Constitution would come out on top in the end.

"At the end of the day, the First Amendment will prevail," he said. "Because if it doesn't prevail, it will fail for Gerald Allen, and it will fail for you and me."

On the upside, however, Alabama's AG Troy King joined Louisiana and Mississippi in submitting a friend of the court brief in support of California's medical marijuana law according to the Birmingham Post-Herald.

[...]

"The point is that, as a sovereign member of the federal union, California is entitled to make for itself the tough policy choices that affect its citizens," King and the others wrote.

The writers took pains to emphasize that they do not endorse California's law. And those expecting a loosening of marijuana laws in Alabama were likely to be disappointed.

[...]

"We wouldn't support the legalization of marijuana under any circumstances," said John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama. "It just opens the door to mischief."

[...]

Are you seeing a pattern here?

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. Please take a moment today to reflect and remember the victims of AIDS and HIV, and learn more about the disease.

Lawmaker works to prevent gay partner benefits

from The Lansing State Journal:

A state representative said Monday he's working on a measure to oppose health benefits for gay partners of state employees in new contracts that have been agreed to by the state and five labor unions.

Rep. Ken Bradstreet, R-Gaylord, also said he will ask Attorney General Mike Cox whether it's legal for the state to offer same-sex domestic partner benefits after Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

[...]

"It's unfathomable how, before the ballot boxes are hardly put away, some state leaders are going against citizens' wishes to even consider this issue in the labor contract negotiations process," he said in a news release.

[...]

South Carolina Public Television Under Fire

And, the right-wing gay-hating continues, but this time in South Carolina where South Carolina Educational Television's (SCETV) airing of a documentary on gays in the South entitled "We are your Neighbors."

State Representative John Graham Altman (R-Charleston) got his panties in a wad over the documentary, calling it "... social, leftist propaganda..." and that "They [SCETV] were actively promoting homosexuality as an OK thing to do," and that the documentary was an effort to promote a "militant homosexual agenda."

365gay.com has the full story:

[...]

Altman says if SCETV can afford to produce such programs to influence the Legislature, then it can afford to have its budget cut. The agency runs on a budget of $12.7 million, down from $20.3 million four years ago.

"As soon as the session starts," he said, "I'm going after them."

[...]

Gay civil rights: not the stuff of political sport

Glenn LeCarl's Op/Ed piece from Tallahassee Democrat:

President Bush threw gay Americans like so much red meat before his cheering crowds of ultra-conservative Christian supporters. His proposed anti-gay marriage amendment not only revealed his intention to deprive gay people of their civil rights, but also highlighted the disproportionate power of this anti-gay religious minority and the degree to which the wall separating church and state has been breached.

Don't expect gays, however, to "go gentle into that good night," to quote Dylan Thomas. We will not be cowed into silence or inaction by our nation's present-day sectarian rule, nor the right's ongoing assault upon our civil rights.

It was not gay activists, after all, who defined marriage as a civil right - none other than the U.S. Supreme Court did. Its 1967 decision in Loving vs. Virginia, which struck down state bans on interracial marriage, states: "The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men;" and "marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man.'"

In seeking to deny "basic civil rights" to gays, President Bush employed a contemptuous re-election strategy. He seems blissfully unaware, especially as he turns the focus toward establishing his legacy, that the hand that feeds can easily get bitten - in this case, by the judgment of history. He nonetheless gambled that he could solidify and expand his base by exploiting anti-gay religious beliefs, as well as those regarding abortion and stem cell research, among others.

[...]

For us, "liberty and justice for all" is no platitude; rather, it is a promise, yet unfulfilled, that remains essential to our founders' vision and our own. Ultimately, gay civil rights are not fated for an emperor's sport.

AFA of Michigan to take on union benefits

from The Detroit News

Law challenges union benefits for gay pairs Ban on same-sex marriages could hurt five pending contracts for domestic partners.

By Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News

It didn't take long for Michigan to feel the impact of its new ban on gay marriage.

With five state unions about to ratify new contracts that allow gay workers to extend their benefits to domestic partners, several groups are likely to use the new law to challenge those benefits.

The American Family Association of Michigan, which helped lead the fight for the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, said its passage prohibits the state from treating gay relationships as similar to marriages.

"Only the marriage of one man and one woman can be recognized by the state," said Gary Glenn, the group's president

Glenn was echoing the language of the new amendment, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

But the unions said they were just as willing to defend the benefits if they're challenged by anyone.

The state's biggest union, UAW Local 6000, said it expected the state to live up to the spirit of the new contracts.

[...]

Westboro "Church" members protest in Arkansas

from The Hometown Channel:

A radical anti-homosexual group picketed in front of Fayetteville High School on Thursday, inciting a counter-protest by hundreds of angry students.

Members of Kansas-based Westboro Church travel around the country preaching an anti-gay message. On Thursday afternoon, they stopped on the steps of Fayetteville High School to protest the school's Gay-Straight Student Alliance.

[...]

As 40/29's Melissa Kelly reported, many of the anti-gay protestors were younger than the high school students who met them near the steps to stage their own rally.

During the lunch hour, hundreds of students poured onto the lawn to show their response to the protestors. The protestors were on the sidewalk, and police worked to make sure they didn't enter the street and block traffic.

[...]

Meanwhile, a second group of Westboro Church members were also in Little Rock on Thursday. The group protested the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and criticized the Democratic Party.

Gay Marriage is a Family Value

from Indiana Statesman:

By Levi Harris November 17, 2004

So on Nov. 2, 11 states voted to insert gay marriage bans into their constitutions. Add to that the fact President Bush may soon name as many as three Supreme Court justices, and gay Americans' prospects for equal rights may now be postponed for a generation. But legalizing gay marriage is still the right thing to do as a matter of policy and morality.

First, it's ridiculous when conservatives say they want to preserve a definition of marriage that's existed for thousands of years. Marriage has never been a static institution. In the Bible, Jacob, David, Solomon and others were polygamists. In the New Testament, polygamy was widespread enough for St. Paul to mention that church leaders should be "the husband of one wife."

At old common law, wives were merely property. In America, slaves were forbidden to marry, no matter how long they'd been together. Until Loving Vs. Virginia in 1967, states could ban interracial marriage. So 37 years ago, it would have been illegal in some states for Clarence Thomas to marry Lynne Cheney.

Marriage is always evolving, yet it's survived every change, and anyone who has seen "Casablanca" knows why: "The world will always welcome lovers." Marriage won't be destroyed by allowing two men to marry any more than it would when blacks and whites marry. (For the record, people used the Bible to oppose interracial marriage, too.)

Then there's this argument that gays getting married will cheapen everyone else's marriage, which is not only wrong, but also illegitimate. That's like saying people I don't like shouldn't be allowed to have birthdays because my cake won't taste as sweet. Or more on point, it's like saying voting became less meaningful when blacks, women and 18-year-olds were granted the franchise. Selfishness and elitism do not make a constitutional argument.

Gay people don't want to destroy marriage. Why would they spend their money and time fighting to be a part of something they want to dismantle? No, the way to destroy marriage is to refuse to let it adapt. Institutions must change to keep pace with reality, or they'll become irrelevant. If gay Americans can't marry, more and more families, straight and gay, will be created outside marriage so that someday marriage itself will be the exception, not the rule. The way to protect marriage is to expand it so more people are socialized to view it as having real meaning for their lives.

You know, conservatives like to talk about family values, but gay marriage IS a family value. We live in a country where gay parents can have their children ripped away from them only because they are gay. Gay Americans often have no legal standing to visit their partners in the hospital; to adopt children; to take medical leave when their partners are sick or dying; to receive their partner's pension or life insurance benefits; or even to decide where to bury their partners.

For 24 years, I've heard conservatives whine about how disgusting gay folks are, how all they want to do is shop, dance, do drugs and sleep with as many different people as possible. At church, they showed me videos of Pride Parades, where these moral lepers would flaunt their depravity in the streets. The Right-Wingers taught me all gay sex was good for was spreading AIDS and other diseases.

But if they believe that, then how DARE they deny gay Americans the right to marry? When gay folks want to settle down, raise families and be monogamous, how dare the conservatives refuse them?

Trumpeting the virtues of marriage and then denying gay people that right is no different than making a room of black schoolchildren say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and then telling them they can't vote. Shame on the conservatives.

We hear conservatives speak of gay marriage as being part of the "Gay Agenda." Well, if gay marriage is part of a "Gay Agenda," then the Underground Railroad and the march in Selma were part of a "Black Agenda," because all gays want is what Americans have always wanted: the freedom that comes with having their full-citizenship rights. Gay folks should be proud; there's no shame in having an agenda for freedom.

It'll be a hard row to hoe. Like most of the great victories of the Civil Rights Movement, I believe this battle will be fought in the courts. Courts are generally one progressive step ahead of the population, and legislatures one conservative step behind. If it hadn't been for "activist judges" like Earl Warren, blacks and whites would still be going to separate schools in Birmingham and Little Rock.

Depending on how the Supreme Court changes in the days ahead, this fight may take 30 years. But we'll keep fighting, and someday this discrimination will go the way of slavery, of internment camps, of segregation, and of anti-sodomy laws, because now, like then, we progressives are in the right. And we have some powerful allies: the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, reason and the irrefutable morality of recognizing the fundamental equality and human dignity of all people for all time.

If you're gay, come out and stand up for yourself. If you're straight, stick up for your gay friends. And if you're interested in being a part of the struggle for equal rights, take the LSAT. We could always use another lawyer.

The Pharisees line up...

Howard Troxler has a column in the November 14th edition of the St. Petersburg Times that asks the questions that a lot of us have been asking ever since the "Christians" ordained that gay marriage is the sin that should be ensconced into our constitutions, both state and federal.

Mr. Troxler takes particular aim at the Florida Baptist Convention, who last week, voted to support a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

This past Tuesday in Jacksonville, the Florida Baptist Convention voted to support a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The Baptists want the Florida Constitution to state that marriage is "the union between a man and a woman and is the God-ordained building block of the family and the bedrock of society."

"The church is the voice of morality," declared the sponsor of this resolution, the Rev. Jay Dennis of Lakeland.

The voice of morality!

I have no quarrel with the Baptists being the voice of morality, even though I was raised a Methodist. (Actually, a Wesleyan - so see, I already know how this whole thing is gonna turn out anyway.)

My only question is:

Why just this morality?

Why just this sin?

Why is this now the moral crisis that deserves to be singled out in our Constitution, the civil law of Caesar, so we can create a lesser class of citizens who don't have the same rights of civil contract?

Could it be because this is an alleged "sin" that only Those Kind of People commit, instead of equally serious sins that Decent People (even Baptists) commit every day?

If we are going to start ranking the "sins," marriage between two gay people who love each other and seek a lifelong commitment doesn't even make the Bible's best-known top-10 list.

Sure, homosexuality is called an "abomination." The Bible says so, not too far from where the Bible also says it's okay to stone your headstrong son to death, and that you'd better stay away from menstruating women.

And yes, the topic of homosexuality really freaked out St. Paul, no question. But so did a lot of stuff.

On the other hand, you know what IS right smack in the Ten Commandments?

Adultery.

Adultery! Now, that's a threat to the institution of marriage. You bet.

Half of heterosexual marriages in our society end in divorce. We heterosexuals are doing a lousy job of "defending" marriage. Adultery is a big part of the reason.

So if we're going to rewrite our Constitution to "protect" marriage from sin because it is the "God-ordained bedrock of society," then I would think that adultery would be a much better target.

The Florida Constitution should be amended to say that there can be no marriage licenses for anyone who has ever had sex outside marriage.

But wait, don't stop there.

Adultery is not the only marriage-threatening sin.

There's coveting.

That's in the Ten Commandments, too. Coveting your neighbor's wife can get you in big trouble.

Bearing false witness is one of the Big 10, too, if I recall. Lying is a pretty big threat to marriage.

No legal rights for liars! God created Adam and Eve, not Adam-You-Can't-Believe.

So, you see, there are the sins that the majority of us Decent People commit, such as lying, coveting, failing to keep the Sabbath, worshiping the wrong things...

And then there is the Really Bad Stuff that God hates even more and wants us to punish and fight by rewriting our Constitution.

I don't believe it.

I am just a poor layman, but I do not recall anywhere in the book seeing instructions to rank what we consider to be sins, and to judge only the ones we find in other people.

In fact, irresistibly, Matthew 7:5 keeps coming back to me:

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Of course, Jesus said a lot of other stuff, too. Rich people almost certainly won't go to heaven. They should give away their money. We should turn the other cheek to those who seek to hurt us. We should clothe the naked and feed the poor and house the homeless.

We also should pray in private, without beating our breasts loudly and rending our garments in the streets like hypocrites.

Jesus' words, not mine.

Maybe he meant we were supposed to just pick and choose the parts we liked.

Lambda Legal files challenge to GA's Amendment One

In a move that surprises no one, Lambda Legal has filed a legal challenge (PDF) on the grounds that the amendment is unconstitutional in that it 1) violates Georgia's constitution in that it deals with more than one subject, and 2) used deceptive language on the ballot to unfairly influence the vote in favor of the amendment.

For those that don't know,

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

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Won't Surrender Marriage

from The Oregonian Letters to the Editor

How do you suppose it would feel if you woke up this morning to learn that your marriage had been annulled without your permission? That regardless of the fact that you had been together for 11 years, have a child together and pay your taxes, someone else decided that your commitment to your family wasn't as real as theirs?

You wouldn't take it lying down. You'd defend your marriage and your family. As a person of faith, a citizen and most important, a mother, I can do no less.

The passage of Measure 36 will not dissolve the religious covenant I made years ago; nor will I surrender my legal commitment without a fight.

RIVKA GEVURTZ Northeast Portland

The Blame Game

from The Daily Collegian Online:

Playing the blaming game of gay marriage during elections

By Thomas Naughton, Collegian columnist

November 10, 2004

Here is a simple truth: John Kerry was not meant to be President. Although I supported him last Tuesday, that piece of truth was the thought running through my head as I watched the Midwest turn red on the television news graphics.

Sadly, we live in a nation wherein we must choose between two men whom no one particularly likes to be our president. Here's another bit of truth: There was no decisive vote for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people to cast. Whom should we have voted for, George W. Bush who hates gays or John Kerry who hates gays? Or should we have just thrown away our vote on Ralph Nader, the anti-Semite? No, the obvious choice was Senator Kerry, who clearly hates gays less than the president.

Some may argue, "John Kerry doesn't hate gays, he's for civil unions!" Oh, I am so impressed by that, you have no idea. I can sleep knowing that Senator Kerry thinks I am human enough to be "civilly united" to someone. John Kerry being "for civil unions" is indicative of the Democratic Party's feelings toward and dealing with gays; they pet us on the head, hold some civil rights in front of our face so we'll do the right tricks (like vote for them), and then throw us back into the pen when they are finished so we don't give them fleas, ticks or lice.

Civil unions are homophobic and so is any politician who supports such an idea. If we are going to have two types of lawful unities, then we may as well start installing "Queers Only" bathrooms and water fountains; just paint them pink so we know which is which. Supporting civil unions is supporting second-class citizenship and I would have way more respect for conservatives and democrats alike if they would just come out and say it.

Shame on Barney Frank, a gay democrat, for suggesting that "gay marriage lost the election for John Kerry." John Kerry lost the race for John Kerry. I didn't want to vote for him. Trust me, if there was a bowel movement running under the democratic ticket with a good platform and significant backing I would have happily voted for it instead of Kerry.

Especially since the bowel movement would probably not have a crazy wife and would have had the ability to make a simple decision in lieu of talking about "global tests" or "lock-boxes" or whatever new jargon the democrats have invented. The democrats have been gutless wonders since the crumbling of the World Trade Center towers and that's one of many reasons why Senator Kerry lost the election.

Are gays and lesbians to feel apologetic to the democrats because we were granted our human rights in Massachusetts? Should the married gays and lesbians of Massachusetts annul their marriages because their nuptials angered Maude and Cletus? That is a disgusting idea and its homosexuals and politicians like Barney Frank who disgust me. Frank portrays himself as the champion of "getting the gay vote out", yet he shows himself to be a true self-hating homosexual who's insipid remarks have done horrible damage to the gay rights movement. He and Condoleeza Rice should just move in together and compound their efforts as living oxymorons. He can tag along with Condi and Ann Coulter when they go to the mall and give them fashion advice - the clear and singular function of a gay man.

There is no way that gay marriage was the singular sticking point for the Maudes and Cletuses of Middle America. Both candidates had the same leanings on gay marriage; they both favored creating an institution outside of traditional marriage for gays because they are not as human as heterosexuals. Obviously the War On The Nation That Didn't Fly Planes Into Our Buildings (or War On "Terror"- you say tomato, etc.) had something to do with it.

Let us also consider that some of the 10 states that passed the proposition to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, also put forth many first time openly gay leaders, including Supreme Court justices. I'm sure that some people voted for Bush because they hate gays, but to suggest that the idea of gays being married crippled John Kerry's candidacy is reckless and such a disheartening betrayal.

As long as we're blaming people, I would like to blame the Democratic National Committee for Bush's victory. They nominated a bland candidate who needed to read the newspaper from the preceding day to remember what platform he was running on. I also wouldn't mind blaming Dan Rather who helped to rush people believing the liberal media-myth to the polls after he reported false information on Bush. Finally, I guess the person I should be blaming is John Kerry because after all, it was up to him and now we are headed for even more dangerous territory with George W. Bush as our leader.

Gay-rights supporters sue over GA amendment

from Court TV:

Gay-rights supporters sued over Georgia's newly approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying Tuesday the wording did not make it clear that voters were also being asked to ban civil unions.

The plaintiffs — including two Democratic state legislators and a University of Georgia law professor — argued that the amendment, passed overwhelmingly on Nov. 2, should be thrown out.

On Monday, Republican members of the state House vowed to fight the expected lawsuit.

"We will take all actions necessary to defend the decision of the people and will not look kindly upon any tampering with our state constitution," said Rep. Glenn Richardson.

The plaintiffs had previously tried to block the vote on the same grounds — that it was misleading — but the state Supreme Court decided it could not intervene until a vote had been taken.

Georgia was one of 11 states that approved amendments against gay marriage last week. A lawsuit has already been filed in another one of those states, Oklahoma.

Health Books Not Hateful Enough

The Daily Texan (Opinion):

Health books not hateful enough By Devon Ryan

The Texas State Board of Education ruled Friday to exclude any and all information on contraception and disease prevention from middle school health textbooks. The books will now stress only abstinence. The board also added a definition of marriage as a "life-long union" between one man and one woman. However, the board voted against including language that said homosexuals are more likely to use illegal drugs and commit suicide.

This is just evidence of the liberal media corrupting the board's decisions and our poor innocent youth. Obviously homosexuality has been endorsed by health textbooks long enough and sixth-grade is the ultimate battleground age for "be gay, not be gay."

If this vital information is not included, then all of our children will be gay, and then there won't be any children any more. Is that what you want? Well, God wants homosexuals to use illegal drugs and commit suicide, and we as faithful proponents of a book we've yet to read must follow His word and teach our youth that being gay causes you to be a corrupt, evil person. It's for the children.

The media and their liberal, over-educated Ph.D. sociologists would have you believe that homosexuals may be more likely to commit suicide because of the tremendous pain of alienation and exile from their families, friends and society in general.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, look at the facts. The all-loving power of God has sent us here to taunt and oppress homosexuals because they are obviously the spawn of Satan, otherwise why would they make us so uncomfortable? Why would they give us such intriguing sexual thoughts? I mean just look at them. Being ... different.

The illegal drug use information is extremely important because it is not only a deterrent to being gay but to using drugs, because all young people who use drugs are gay. All this malarkey about illegal drug use as evidence for depression due to prejudice from much of American society in the homosexual community is a dangerous message to send to our young people. Gay people are not depressed; they are "gay." Happy in the realm of the fallen angel Lucifer all the live long day, and it is we who are depressed at their very existence.

The fact that they use drugs that are deemed illegal is evidence that they should be illegal as well. Why can't they abuse Prozac, alcohol and Xanax like decent people? Just as the anti-terrorism effort is important in America, so too is the anti-moral corruption movement. We are not just after homosexuals but the abhorrent scum that harbors them.

We must stop young people from accepting and understanding the heathen homosexual community, because if we don't teach future generations to hate what is different, why ... they wouldn't hate what is different and God would be ... mad.

Yes, God would be mad. Hate is, of course, implicit in the teachings of God. By defining marriage as a life-long union, we expose those people who have been "divorced" as having never been married and their children as bastards. Also, by mentioning that it is between one man and one woman, it dispels the belief, which all sixth-graders have, that marriage is only between gay couples.

Fear not, America. Help is on the way. Thanks to our fabulous campaign for moral values, which is invading our nation quicker than a John Kerry flip-flop, soon homosexuals will have absolutely no rights or respect whatsoever.

And now a note from reality: Conservatives, get over yourselves.

The first time I read that this morning, I was seething; I couldn't believe my eyes! I read it a second time just to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. The third time through, I caught the satire of Devon Ryan's piece.

Why am I telling you this? Because we all read things with a built-in bias. I'm still reeling from last week's overwhelming vote to relegate me to a second-class citizen, so when I read "The all-loving power of God has sent us here to taunt and oppress homosexuals because they are obviously the spawn of Satan," I was absolutely livid.

The bias continues on Clack. I present stories and thoughts here that prove and support my beliefs, convictions, and feelings. I am editor-in-chief here. I quote stories from various sources around the world, and I quote the parts that I think are important. However, when leaving out parts of a story, I always mark it as such with [...]. That should be your signal to click the link I provide to the source material and read it for yourself.

Jeb Bush speaks on gay unions

from South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush weighed in on the explosive issue of same sex marriage Tuesday, saying he might support a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage if the courts open the door to such unions in Florida.

It was his strongest statement yet on the issue and came the same day that the Florida Baptist State Convention in Jacksonville unanimously agreed to seek a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Bush said he thinks the state's Defense of Marriage Act prohibits gay marriages, but he might back putting a constitutional question on the ballot if court rulings force the issue.

"If there was a threat that gay marriage would be accepted in our state, then I might be supportive of it," Bush said. "I'm not sure it's necessary to do this in a pre-emptive fashion."

[...]

Texas Lawmaker files amendment proposal to ban gay marriage

from Star-Telegram.com:

AUSTIN - Calling it a biblical issue, a state lawmaker on Monday proposed an amendment to the Texas Constitution that would ban the state from recognizing gay marriage.

Rep. Warren Chisum said he hoped the amendment would send a message to Congress that Texans support a similar amendment on the federal level.

"We really feel very strong about the fact that we don't want the deterioration of the institution of marriage and that's what we see happening across this country," he said.

[...]

"We're a bit concerned about some of the big cities' acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle," Chisum said. "There's been a big push in the homosexual community to get into the marriage issue."

[...]

The gay marriage deception

The Boston Globe - Opinion:

By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist

THE NEWS media have grossly misreported the contents of state referendum questions targeting Americans who are apparently seen as more dangerous to national security than John Kerry -- gay people.

Using unthinking shorthand that carries out the hidden agendas of the people who want gays banished to the fringes of society, the press has over and over again referred to these measures as banning gay marriage. In fact that is only accurate regarding three of the 11 initiatives passed last week.

In state after state -- most prominently in Ohio (which Bush barely won) and in Michigan (which he nearly did) -- these referendums went far beyond the question of who gets to be formally married. They also banned legal and other conventions incidental to marriage, which are central to the evolving institutions of civil unions and domestic partnerships.

For political reasons, it was central to the hidden agendas of the groups pushing these restrictions (the target is homosexuality, not relationships between homosexuals) that they not become the focus of the debate.

Therefore marriage was used as the cover for the far more consequential effort to strip contractual rights from gay couples who have formed hundreds of thousands of families in recent years across the United States.

That is why proponents described them repeatedly as efforts to ban gay or same-sex marriage, a formulation the press has mindlessly repeated. It reminds me of the success of groups who spent nearly a decade on behalf of banning a rare pregnancy procedure, the name for which was invented solely for political and shock-value purposes -- partial-birth abortion. Again, the press's lazy penchant for a catch phrase, unexamined for accuracy, led reporters and editors to mindlessly repeat the phrase.

The point about that phony campaign -- already rejected once by federal judges of all stripes, including the Supreme Court, and back in the courts now -- was to use the shock value of the procedure to create a ban written to cover all three trimesters of pregnancy without an exception to preserve a woman's health, in other words to challenge Roe v. Wade and abortion rights themselves.

Just for the record, the three states whose initiatives last week refer only to the granting of marriage licenses are Montana, Oregon (the one place where the vote was very close), and Mississippi. The states that used marriage as a cover to mount an assault on contractual relationships of all kinds were Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah.

In pivotal Ohio, for example, the voters may not have realized it but they voted to strip people of the right to contractually arrange distribution of assets, child custody, pensions, and other employment benefits. They most definitely were not "protecting" marriage; they were attacking gay people. That is why the political and business establishment there, including Republicans, opposed the measure.

The evidence is that the voters who approved it also opposed its actual contents. In the official exit poll Tuesday night, 27 percent of the voters said they support full marriage rights, 35 percent supported civil unions, and only 27 percent oppose any legal rights for same-sex couples. In other words, to underline the importance of artifice and deception in our sound-bite culture, the voters approved a measure opposed substantively by 62 percent of the very same voters.

President Bush embodies this incoherence while he manipulates the sentiments cynically. Just before the election he tried to say he supports the rights of states to have civil unions, though he would have opposed them as governor of Texas. He also supports a federal constitutional amendment that would both limit "marriage" to man-woman couples and permit states to ban civil unions.

The incoherence was tactical. Bush knew fair-minded supporters of civil unions were going to vote for him (according to the exit polls, up to half did); but he also knew he needed to keep his base of bigots happy, too -- hence his campaign's alliance with them at the grass roots in places like Ohio.

The irony is that a federal amendment is probably necessary for the pro-discrimination forces to succeed.

Many states have laws to keep groups from putting two issues in the same referendum, in order to avoid exactly the kind of deception that has occurred. In fact, injunctive relief on that ground has already been granted in states that passed such initiatives earlier. In addition, they directly challenge both the contract and the equal protection clauses of the US Constitution.

The federal amendment does not have the votes, even in the new Congress, and my hunch is that Bush doesn't have the stomach to truly fight for discrimination. He was, however, willing to benefit from the deception this year, and a lazy news media played right into the hands of those who would officially sanction discrimination.

FL Southern Baptists push for constitutional ban on gay unions

The Miami Herald

A state constitutional ban on same-sex marriages will soon go before the Legislature and voters for approval if the state's Southern Baptists get their way.

The Florida Baptist Convention, which holds its 150th annual meeting Monday and Tuesday in Jacksonville, is expected to call for the passage of a state constitutional amendment upholding the "biblical definition" of marriage between one man and one woman.

"We're going to begin some type of process of saying we want to see a state marriage amendment similar to what was passed in other states this election," said the Rev. Tommy Green, pastor of First Baptist Church in Brandon and the outgoing president of the 1 million-member convention.

[...]

I don't think we can be friends anymore

The Advocate

Election Day 2004 was a sad day for my country, but it was also a sad day for me, because I lost a few good friends. They voted for Bush, and consequently I don’t think they can be my friends anymore.

I know you may say, “Can’t you just accept the opinions of others and move on? What’s the big deal?” Well, if the issue is the quality of a movie, taste in lawn ornaments, or even annoying family members, of course I can move on. I can accept basic political differences between Republican and Democrat. I accept bad breath.

But, I’m sorry, if you voted for Bush, I just don’t have room for you in my life anymore.

You may also say, “Come on, Jim, don’t take this personally.” Well, sorry, but it couldn’t be more personal. Bush is a man who empowered the most lunatic fringe segment of his party, the segment that wants to deny me the right to exist.

Yes, that’s right, to exist.

Bush and Co. have handed their party—lock, stock, and barrel—to Christian fundamentalists who want all protections for gay people taken off the books and their state constitutions amended so that no new protections can be adopted. Not only that, they want to go further. Don’t be fooled into thinking that they will stop with merely banning gay marriage. Jim DeMint, the newly elected senator from South Carolina, said during his campaign that he supports a state G.O.P. platform banning gays—and unmarried pregnant women—from teaching in public schools. Tom Coburn, the newly elected senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that “the gay agenda” would undermine the country.

[...]

Bush to push gay-marriage ban in new term

from Yahoo!:

President Bush will renew a quest in his second term for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage as essential to a "hopeful and decent" society, his top political aide said on Sunday.

[...]

"If we want to have a hopeful and decent society, we ought to aim for the ideal, and the ideal is that marriage ought to be, and should be, a union of a man and a woman," Bush political aide Karl Rove told "Fox News Sunday."

Rove said Bush would "absolutely" push the Republican-controlled Congress for a constitutional amendment, which he said was needed to avert the aims of "activist judges" who would permit gay marriages.

Renewing his push for an amendment -- despite its slim chances of success -- would be a way for Bush to reward his conservative base. The amendment would face a steep hurdle winning the needed approval of three-fourths of the states.

[...]